Ladies of the Canyons

August 1, 2015

Poling-Kempes (Bone Horses; Ghost Ranch) is no stranger to fiction and nonfiction set in the American Southwest, and her latest offering is no exception. It was in researching Ghost Ranch that she stumbled across its founder, Carol Bishop Stanley, a middle-aged divorcee from Boston. The author's search for more information about Stanley led her to learn about other "New Women" who reinvented themselves in the Southwest at the turn of the 20th century--these women's experiences highlight their interest in preserving Native American culture, art, and music. Composer and self-trained ethnomusicologist Natalie Curtis Burlin, painter Alice Ellen Klauber, and Museum of Navajo Ceremonial Art founder Mary Cabot Wheelwright all get their due alongside Stanley in this book that emphasizes the difficult line women from well-off families at the dawn of the modern era had to walk in order to pursue creative interests. They were expected to marry and keep artistic pursuits strictly as hobbies. Poling-Kempes showcases women who strayed from the expected path, paving the way for those who came after them but who have all but disappeared from history texts. VERDICT Readers interested in the American Southwest, U.S. history, women's history, gender studies, and Native American culture will find this work both enjoyable and edifying.--Crystal Goldman, Univ. of California, San Diego Lib.

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